The weather had always been good in September. He had heard of it before, which was why he decided to fly there in September last year. It was less raining, the sun was shining extraordinarily bright, and it was that time when tourists started coming, swarming the area, filling the atmosphere with some unfamiliar accents that Jong Kook never heard before.

If it had been a year since the first time he arrived there, then it also had almost been a year since she left him here. Well, truth to be told, he did not fly all the way from Seoul to Maui, Hawaii all alone—though it was actually his dream to come here and perhaps live here for the rest of his life together with his future wife, he originally came here with his fiancée.

Song Ji Hyo. He missed calling her name or better, calling her jagiya like he always used to do. He took a very good look at the last photos they took together just days before she left him. Both of them were in white, and looked at each other with eyes full of love—anyone could quickly tell that. His thumb then rubbed a photo of her widely smiling happy face with the beach as the background. He missed touching her chubby soft cheeks.

For the love of God, he missed her. He missed all of her.

A year without her made him turn into more like her, a loner. Although, he turned worse, a total loner who sometimes decided to not meet anyone within a week or two. He just simply locked himself inside his room, looking at her photos, and writing a letter. Just like what he was doing right now. In this not-so-soundproof room where he spent his nights for a year, he bawled his eyes out for the nth time today while it was only 10 AM.

Once again, he wrote another letter to her—the unsent one. Not that he did not want her to know the content of those piled-up letters for her, but he completely had no idea where she was right now. Her phone was off—at least that was what he always got noticed every time he tried to call her, none of her friends knew where she was—or they just simply did not want to tell him, and she just disappeared. As if a thick air swallowed her. As if she was gone with the wind and swept away with the wave that always accompanied his days and nights.

Wiping his tears, he then heard a quite loud noise outside his room, which happened to be a bar that was run by his dear old friend, Tae Hyun, and his wife. He had been staying there, being extra baggage for Tae Hyun's household, in his bar slash house all at once nonchalantly. Well, not that he wanted that, he had discussed with Tae Hyun about renting a house here, but Tae Hyun had always been against it. He just simply loved having his old friend here and most of all, he worried that Jong Kook could not think straight after he saw how devastated he was upon the left of his darling fiancée.

"What happened?" He asked Tae Hyun in his hoarse voice. Never mind that he tried to hide the fact that he had been crying, the redness around his eyes was enough proof of what he just did minutes ago.

"As usual, people do crazy things when they are drunk while it's only 10 AM now." Tae Hyun sighed while wiping the bar table. "What happened to you? Grieving her leave again?"

Deciding to not answer the question because, like it had been mentioned earlier, anyone that knew what happened to Jong Kook and his relationship could easily tell that crying over it was a reasonable thing to do. Well, Jong Kook was never such a crybaby or an emotional one in general. There were only two people that could easily make him shed a tear, his mother and Song Ji Hyo.

"You know what, as much as I love having you here, I think it's time for you to either leave and go back to Seoul or move on with your life here. It's been a year, Jong Kook-ah, how long will you cry for her, write her a letter that she can't even read, and long for her presence?"

Jong Kook gulped his own saliva. Consciously, what Tae Hyun said was right. He was just standing still all this time. Yes, he did some activities to ease his mind, like surfing, helping Tae Hyun's business and locals, and exploring the island here and there alone, but those things actually meant nothing since he always ended up missing her again late at night. He always told everyone that he was fine and he was enjoying his time here in Hawaii, but the fact was, he had just been refining his lying skill.

How could he be just fine with the fact that his fiancée left him?

He loved her too deeply, so he was hurt deeply as well.

As a matter of fact, he had considered Tae Hyun's suggestion long before he suggested it. He thought to move somewhere else, perhaps New Zealand because it was also one of the countries where Jong Kook would want to spend his time there, but there was always this one thing that held him back.

"I can't go anywhere, Tae Hyun-ah," Jong Kook took a sip of a Mai Tai that Tae Hyun served him. "I... I'm afraid that if I leave, she'll come back to find me someday but she can't find me anywhere."

"Oh, for God damn sake! You had always been the smartest one among us, Jong Kook-ah, I know that you know that's unlikely for her to come back here." Growing impatiently, Tae Hyun tousled his own hair in frustration. Indeed, his muscled friend was a smart one, yet also a stubborn one. "Okay, I won't ask you to go somewhere else anymore, but here. There's an open mic tonight at the hall. I know you don't only write letters but also songs, and you have such a freaking good voice, so just give it a try, okay? It might lead to a new path."

To appreciate Tae Hyun's effort, Jong Kook took a look at the poster his friend showed him. It was not rare that the government held a public event like this to draw the interest of tourists. It brought him back to the time when he went to the open mic event for the first time, together with her. They had a really great time, he remembered she was dancing freely and smiling extremely wide. Not to mention that they wrapped the night with kissing passionately under the sky full of stars—which resulted in making that night immediately becoming one of those memorable nights that he would always cherish throughout his life.

Perhaps this was why Tae Hyun insisted he just leaves Hawaii. Everything here seemed to be connected to her. Everything here brought him back to her. How could he move on if he could not even stop thinking about her, missing her?

Or it was just... He never actually wanted to stop thinking about her, to stop missing her, and to move on.

The crowd in front of the stage at the hall caused Jong Kook to sigh. There was a local band performing that successfully pulled the tourists around there. Instead of trying to be one of the people inside the crowd, he decided to have a drink—the strongest one that was served there, though he did not really completely take his attention off what was performed or the situation of the crowd there. Somehow he wished for a miracle that she was among the crowd so that he could finally feed his yearning for her presence.

A wish would not hurt anyone, right?

Unless the wish was not going to be true and he had been holding on too hard to that.

As the night started to fall, the crowd began to be wilder than ever. While Jong Kook was on the verge of reaching his limit as now his head as well as his eyes felt heavier, something caught his attention. It was a woman who was wrapped beautifully in a white dress with her wavy long hair looking here and there, seemed like she was searching for something.

His gaze never lost her, eventually following her move. When the band then played a surely fun song to dance to, he could see her getting immersed in the song and starting to move her body according to the beat, while also playing with her hair adoringly. 

Maybe it was the alcohol that drove him, maybe it was his unconscious thought that told him that the woman was his long-lost love. The next thing he knew, he was also on the dance floor, bringing himself to be near her. He just got to make sure whether it was her or not, whether his mind deceived him or told him the truth. But unfortunately, the more he got closer to her, the more she distanced herself further as if she got a hunch that he was bad news.

"Ji Hyo." He called her once he got her cornered in a less crowded place near the exit.

She eyed him in terror in such a way that she had just seen a ghost or something. He could sense that she grew uneasy since she was trying to pull her phone out of her sling bag, but it was a failed attempt due to him grabbing both of her hands.

"It's me, don't you remember me, Ji Hyo-yah?"

Her breath then became unstable as her chest moved rapidly. She was terrified. She was afraid of him.

And that explained everything that she was not Ji Hyo. She was not the one that he had given his heart.

Jong Kook stopped in his tracks, feeling the gentle but firm grip of the woman's hand on his. He turned back to look at her, and despite the fear in her eyes, he saw a glimmer of hope and curiosity.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He said softly, trying to calm her nerves.

She bit her lip, hesitating for a moment before speaking. "I'm sorry too. It's just... you mentioned my name, and I got confused. I thought maybe you knew me from somewhere."

Jong Kook nodded understandingly. "It's alright. My mistake. I thought you were someone I knew, but I must have been mistaken."

As much as he wanted it to be her, he knew he couldn't force it. The woman before him was not Song Ji Hyo, and he had to come to terms with that reality.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" The woman asked, her expression softening as she noticed the sadness in his eyes.

He shook his head. "No, thank you. I appreciate your concern."

The woman smiled warmly at him, her hand still holding onto his. "Well, in that case, how about we have a dance? It might not be what you were looking for, but it could be a nice distraction."

Jong Kook hesitated for a moment, but then he thought that maybe a dance could indeed be a distraction he needed. He managed a small smile in return. "Sure, a dance sounds nice."

They made their way back to the dance floor, and the music had shifted to a slower, more romantic tune. The woman held out her hand, and Jong Kook took it, leading her in a graceful waltz. As they swayed to the music, Jong Kook tried to push aside his thoughts of Ji Hyo and immerse himself in the present moment.

For a brief moment, he found solace in the dance. He appreciated the warmth of the woman's hand in his, the softness of her smile, and the way she moved with him in perfect harmony. They danced in silence as if words were unnecessary in that fleeting moment of connection.

As the song ended, they slowly came to a stop. The woman smiled at Jong Kook again, and he could not help but feel grateful for the brief distraction she had offered.

"Thank you," Jong Kook said sincerely. "That was nice."

"It was my pleasure," she replied, her eyes filled with kindness. "If you ever need someone to talk to or dance with again, you know where to find me."

Jong Kook nodded appreciatively. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

With that, they parted ways, and Jong Kook returned to his seat at the bar. The rest of the night passed in a blur, as he watched the performances on the stage and tried to forget about the encounter with the woman.

Eventually, the night came to an end, and Jong Kook found himself walking back to the beach house where he was staying. The stars shone brightly above him, just as they had on the night he first met Ji Hyo in this very place.

Feeling the weight of his emotions, he sank to his knees in the sand. The memories of their time together were both comforting and painful. He missed her presence, her laughter, and the way she made him feel alive. He knew he could not hold on to the past forever, but the fear of moving forward without her felt suffocating.

As early as he just finished preparing everything to open the bar, Jong Kook could not believe his eyes when the woman from last night, whom he knew in his heart to be the real Ji Hyo, walked into the bar. She wore a simple sundress, her hair tied up in a loose bun, and she looked as beautiful as he remembered her.

"Hello," she greeted him with a warm smile, her eyes shimmering with emotions he could not quite decipher.

"Hi," Jong Kook replied, trying to hide the mixture of surprise and joy that overwhelmed him. "What can I get you?"

"A mojito, please," she said, taking a seat at the bar.

As Jong Kook prepared her drink, he noticed her eyes were different than last night. There was sadness that seemed to linger in there, as well also some swollen trace on the upper eyelids. He initiatively turned in a fun song, in the hope it could cheer her up as she did last night to him, as he served the drink.

"I haven't caught your name last night." He opened the conversation, putting on a playful smile.

Her eyes widened in surprise, but a small smile formed on her lips. "Really? It must be because I was too immersed in the dancing."

He was the first to straighten his hand to her. "Kim Jong Kook."

"Cheon Seong Im."

"Alright, enjoy your day, Seong Im-ssi."

She replied with just a smile and took out a book from her bag. Without planning to bother her anymore as well as the other customers, Jong Kook busied himself with wiping the glasses while humming some parts from the song being tuned in the speaker. Little did he know, it caught the woman's attention.

"You have a nice voice." She closed her book and now focused on Jong Kook while sipping her drink. She seemed... interested in him? The way she acted made Jong Kook flustered.

Taking it as a positive signal, Jong Kook put down the glass he held before. "Do you have any requests? I might sing you one or two if the song suits my mood."

Seong Im giggled and thought for a while before coming up with a request, which was immediately executed by Jong Kook beautifully.

"Oh God, where are you all this time? You should've joined the open mic yesterday!" Her eyes lit in excitement and also disbelief. "You know what, you really should do the open mic tonight. I'll sit in front of the stage all night just to hear your voice."

Jong Kook laughed, feeling a mixture of nerves and excitement at the thought of performing on stage. "You really think so? I don't know if I'm ready for that."

Seong Im leaned closer, her eyes sparkling with encouragement. "You have a wonderful voice, Jong Kook. You have a gift, and I think you should share it with the world."

Her words touched his heart, and he found himself considering the idea. Perhaps it was time to step out of his comfort zone and embrace his passion for singing. Even when Tae Hyun had been nagging about it to him days ago, but only with Seong Im's support, he felt a newfound courage within him.

"I'll think about it," Jong Kook replied with a smile. "Maybe I'll give it a shot tonight."

As the day went on, Seong Im stayed at the bar, and they spent more time talking and getting to know each other. Jong Kook learned that she was about to get married in the next 2 days. Nonetheless, he had no intention to snatch her from her fiance even though she resembled Ji Hyo so much. He only felt a weird deep connection with her, and it felt like they had known each other for a lifetime.

As the evening approached, the bar started to fill up with patrons, and the excitement for the open mic night grew. Jong Kook couldn't ignore the flutter of nerves in his stomach as he contemplated the idea of performing in front of a live audience.

"You can do this," Seong Im whispered to him, offering a reassuring smile. "Just imagine you're singing to me, and everything will be fine."

Her words provided him with the confidence he needed. He took a deep breath and signed up for the open mic night. As he stepped on stage, he spotted Seong Im in the front row, her eyes filled with encouragement.

He began to sing, pouring his heart and soul into each note. The crowd fell silent as his mesmerizing voice filled the air. He sang with passion, his emotions flowing through every word. And as he glanced at Seong Im, he felt like he was singing directly to her, just as she had suggested.

When he finished his performance, the crowd erupted into applause. Jong Kook felt a sense of accomplishment and joy that he had not experienced in a long time. He stepped off the stage, and Seong Im rushed to him, her eyes shining with admiration.

"You were amazing," she said, hugging him tightly.

"Thank you," Jong Kook replied, feeling overwhelmed with happiness. "I couldn't have done it without your support."

As the night continued, they danced, laughed, and shared stories with each other. The connection between them deepened, and it felt like they were in their own little world, separate from everything else.

As the clock struck midnight, Seong Im took Jong Kook's hand and led him to her hotel room. They stood outside the door, their hearts pounding in their chests. Jong Kook knew that this was a pivotal moment, one that could change everything.

"I don't want this night to end," Seong Im whispered, her voice filled with vulnerability.

"Me neither," Jong Kook replied, his eyes locking with hers.

They entered the room and as if she was struck by a lighting, she was surprised but enjoyed the way Jong Kook's lips suddenly marched into hers. One thing led to another. The clothes were shattered everywhere, even Jong Kook could not remember where he put his pink shirt.

It was almost dawn when they finished with everything. As Jong Kook was about to leave, Seong Im reached out and took Jong Kook's hand. "Can I tell you something?"

"Of course," he replied, his heart beating faster with anticipation. He sat next to her while caressing her bare shoulder.

"Oppa, I'm Ji Hyo. Song Ji Hyo," she confessed, her voice barely above a whisper. "I couldn't bear the thought of getting married to someone I don't love. I came back because I needed to see you, to feel alive again. I know it's unfair to you, but I needed this time with you."

Jong Kook's heart ached with the weight of her words. He knew he should have been angry or upset, but all he felt was empathy and understanding. He could see the pain in her eyes, the battle she was fighting within herself.

"I'm sorry for not being honest with you," Ji Hyo continued, tears streaming down her cheeks. "But I needed to feel alive, even if it was just for a little while. I even still wear the engagement ring you gave to me. I miss you every day and I really wish things could turn differently for us."

"You don't have to apologize," Jong Kook said gently, wiping away her tears. "I'm grateful for the time we spent together. It reminded me of how much I still care for you."

Ji Hyo looked up at him, her eyes searching for something he could not quite comprehend. "Do you hate me for what I've done?"

Jong Kook shook his head, cupping her face in his hands. "I could never hate you, Ji Hyo. I understand the struggles you're going through, and I want nothing but your happiness."

She leaned into his touch, her tears mixing with the saltwater on her cheeks. "I wish I had the strength to choose my own happiness."

"You do," Jong Kook whispered. "You have the strength to follow your heart, no matter how difficult it may be. If you're not happy with the wedding, then don't go through with it."

Ji Hyo looked torn, but Jong Kook's words seemed to resonate with her. "What about us?"

"I won't lie and say that I don't still have feelings for you," Jong Kook admitted. "But I can't ask you to give up your life for me. You deserve to find happiness, whether it's with me or someone else."

They stood there, holding each other in the moonlit room, their hearts heavy with unspoken emotions. The night passed in silence, and as the first rays of dawn painted the sky, Ji Hyo made her decision.

"Let's get married here, oppa."

Jong Kook was taken aback by Ji Hyo's sudden suggestion. The weight of her words sank in, and he realized the enormity of what she was proposing. Marrying her in Hawaii meant pulling her away completely from her family, getting her off the arranged wedding, and fulfilling their postponed dream. It meant taking a leap of faith and following their hearts, no matter the consequences.

"Are you sure about this?" Jong Kook asked, wanting to be certain that she was not making a decision out of desperation or fear.

Ji Hyo looked into his eyes with determination. "I've never been surer about anything in my life, oppa. I don't want to go through with the wedding back home. It wouldn't be fair to either of us."

He took a moment to process her words, feeling a mix of excitement and fear. This was a life-altering decision, and he didn't want to rush into it without considering all the implications.

"I need some time to think about this," Jong Kook finally said, trying to collect his thoughts.

"I understand," Ji Hyo replied, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "My flight will be at 9 tonight. Just know that I love you, and I want to be with you."

Jong Kook smiled and kissed her forehead for the last time before leaving the hotel room. He knew that he loved Ji Hyo with all his heart, and the idea of spending the rest of his life with her brought a sense of joy and completeness he had never felt before. But he also knew that their decision would have far-reaching consequences, and they needed to be prepared for whatever came their way.

"You sure that it's really her?" Tae Hyun faced him with a serious expression. Both of his hands were folded in front of the chest. This was the first time ever Jong Kook ever seen his goofy friend this serious.

"Yes, Tae Hyun-ah. I know her too well. I even have that gut since the first time I saw her. She is Ji Hyo."

Tae Hyun sighed. He knew nothing could stop Jong Kook if it involved his one true love, Ji Hyo. He patted Jong Kook's shoulder, and ended up hugging him tightly, "Be happy with her, Jong Kook-ah."

"I will, Tae Hyun-ah."

It was 8 at night when he found her on the beach, sitting next to her suitcase with her eyes longing for the sea.

"Ji Hyo," he said, taking her hands in his. "I've thought it over, and I don't want to spend another day without you. If you're willing to take this risk with me, then I'm all in. Let's get married here, in Hawaii."

A tear of joy rolled down Ji Hyo's cheek as she smiled at him. "I can't believe this is happening. I love you, oppa."

"I've stayed here for a long time, Ji Hyo. I've waited for you for a long time. Even when everyone told me to just forget about you, I believe you'll be back for me here. Even when everyone told me to let you go, I can't because I love you, Ji Hyo," he replied, pulling her into a warm embrace.

They did not have the luxury of a grand celebration, they did not need it anyway. All they needed was each other and the promise of a lifetime together.

On a beautiful afternoon, with the ocean as their witness, Jong Kook and Ji Hyo exchanged their vows. It was a simple and heartfelt ceremony, filled with love, sincerity, and the sound of waves crashing against the shore. As they sealed their love with a kiss, they felt a sense of peace and contentment.

They had chosen their own path, and they were ready to face whatever came their way, together, standing still next to each other.